TRACES OF THOMAS STOCKMANN

(In a performance of Enemy Of The People by Henrick Ibsen)

(from p. 107 of the novel)

In the second act of the play, I began to notice something I'd overlooked
the first time I'd seen the Ibsen play. After Dr. Stockmann began preaching to the townspeople, he seemed less
and less a hero. He overdid it. He couldn't see how anyone could disbelieve his "scientific truth." When he
accused his brother and the town fathers of turning morality and righteousness upside down, I wondered if he hadn't turned himself upside down as well. He seemed all too glad to find other people's mistakes.
Then a funny thing happened. I started hearing Pete Peterson's voice:

"That's just what he thinks."
"What a lot of bunk!"
"Not so, my dear friend."
"Bullshit."
"Here's the latest news from Mount Olympus."
It was the nasty notes he had written in the margins of other people's scientific articles.